[NRVR-Members] Tracking Beacon/System Reccomendations?

[Jordan Truesdell]

Eggtimer is ~$90-100 with the cheapest receiver, but you have to put them together (soldering up the whole board, takes about 2 hours if you're good; it took me a bit longer)

BRB is $260-300 depending on options, plus you need to be a HAM (technician, a few hrs of study and $10-15 for the multiple choice test). 

40 miles is probably best case line-of-sight with a directional Yagi antenna and max power on tx.  I lose the beacon within a mile with a HT/rubber duckie if there's a hill in the way. I've gotten signal from ~2 miles, nearly line of sight but it required a directional antenna with the BRB. I haven't tested the ET.

One advantage to the GPS over a simple beacon is that, if you are recording the signal during the descent, you'll have coordinates to follow. And, having lost a rocket with a tracker after it came in ballistic, I highly recommend recording as much data as you can during the flight. 

--
Jordan
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